Day-care Dilemma

A Zoning Battle Hits Home

March 31, 1991|By Hal Dardick.

When Patty Kusisto launched a day-care operation from her Schaumburg home three years ago, she didn`t go to the village to get permission, although she was licensed by the state Department of Children and Family Services.

That, it turns out, was a mistake.

``I was operating illegally, knowing I should have gone there for 10 months,`` she said. ``I got caught when the local paper did an article on quality day care.``

A neighbor read the article, which featured Kusisto, and filed a complaint with the village. That began a long process that eventually led to the formation of an an ad-hoc committee and the expected passage of a day-care ordinance, after Kusisto went through what she thinks was an unnecessary ordeal.

Schaumburg, like many municipalities, requires a home day-care operator to secure a special-use permit, which requires at least two appearances before public bodies, the filing of myriad papers documenting the condition of the home and the plans for the operation, plus payment of a $110 fee.

The hearings are especially tough, Kusisto said. ``Here you have eight people standing in front of you, with a microphone in your face,`` she said.

``It`s very intimidating, and you have to go through it twice.``

She eventually was approved, but not until she proved she didn`t need emergency lighting or a fence in her backyard, which she said would have been a financial burden.

Kusisto went through the same routine as many a day-care operator in the northwest suburbs, the rest of Illinois and in 37 of the country`s 50 states. In some cases, they are simply prohibited from having a day-care operation in their homes, and in others, villages place limits that far exceed those of the state.

That`s because only 13 states, not including Illinois, have a uniform law on zoning of home day-care facilities. In Illinois, each of the state`s 1,276 municipalities have the power to limit or eliminate day care through their zoning ordinances.

``Zoning is a big problem across the country,`` said Georgetown University Professor William T. Gormley Jr., a specialist in day care.

``Zoning requirements inhibit day-care homes in a number of cities in the nation. Zoning requirements inhibit people from starting day-care homes and prevent those who are operating homes from getting a license, for fear of not being able to comply with zoning ordinances.``

Kusisto agrees: ``One reason people operate underground, if you want to call it that, is because of this process.``

Indeed, the vast majority of day-care operators have been driven underground by the confusing variety of zoning ordinances, said Elsie Mills, director of YWCA Child Care Resource and Referral, a Glen Ellyn-based organization that also contracts out for referral services in northwest Cook County.

Mills said there could be as many as 10 unlicensed day-care homes for every one that is licensed. Other reasons for going underground are not wanting to limit the number of children cared for, fear of government in general and avoidance of income taxes.

In the northwest suburbs, many communities, such as Elgin, have zoning regulations that comply with Department of Children and Family Services rules, which allow three to eight children, including those of the operator, to use a home day-care operation on any given day. Indeed, compared to nearby Du Page County, which has perhaps the most stringent requirements in the state, the northwest suburbs are viewed as much more progressive.

Many municipalities, however, still restrict such operations or require special-use permits and hefty fees to start home day care.

Restrictions may run the gamut from limiting the amount of space that can be used in the home for a business, to making illegal the hiring of an assistant or limiting the number of children that can be cared for in the home.

In suburban Cook County there are 173,000 children under the age of 5, and more than half of them have working mothers, according to statistics compiled by the Day Care Action Council of Illinois, an advocacy association. There are licensed day-care spaces for just 31,199 children.

That`s not enough to assure quality day care for all those who need it, especially those with limited resources, said Carolyn Shapiro of the Action Council.

Experts agree that assessing the need for day care is not easy. ``It`s really difficult to estimate the need and supply, because a lot of what happens, happens under the table,`` Shapiro said.

The real number of day-care spaces in Illinois is higher than official statistics indicate, because so many are underground. Municipalities typically don`t bother to cite those who operate home day care without complying with local and state standards-unless a neighbor complains.